Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 16 December 2025 to Question 98098 on Ministry of Justice: Public Appointments, what the annual remuneration of those appointments is.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Due to data protection requirements, this information cannot be disclosed. The Ministry of Justice notes the Cabinet Office’s new guidance on Direct Ministerial Appointments (DMAs), including the information to be published when such appointments are announced, and the creation of a new portal for these announcements.
All DMAs enclosed in PQ 98098, with the exception of the English Law Promotion Panel (which is unremunerated), were made before the guidance was published. Going forward, the Ministry of Justice will ensure that announcements of DMAs are made in accordance with this guidance.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, who the members of the pool of Independent Panel Members for public appointments in his Department are.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The members of the Ministry of Justice’s pool of Independent Panel Members for public appointments are:
- Mohamed Ali
- Lambert Allman
- Nicolina Andall
- Delroy Beverley
- Lord Bew
- Charlotte Black
- Baroness Bull
- Jayne Butler
- Cindy Butts
- Jody Chatterjee
- Jacqui Francis
- Keith Fraser
- Graham Gee
- Rory Geoghegan
- Malcolm John
- Carly Jones
- William Kennedy
- Grant Lamond
- Alison Lyon
- Paula McDonald
- Jacob Meagher
- Caterina Milo
- Oliver Mosely
- Camilla Poulton
- Grace Quantock
- Dale Simon
- Rohan Sivanandan
- Graeme Spencer
- John Tasioulas
- Bernadette Thompson
- Rachel Tranter
- Mark Trafford
- Joanne Vance
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, if he will provide a hyperlink to the contract performance information for the (a) Provision of Custodial Services and (b) PFI Contracted Estate Prison contracts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is published and can be accessed at the following link: Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Deputy Prime Minister’s official residence in Carlton Gardens is registered with Westminster City Council as a second home.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence at Carlton Gardens is his primary residence.
Council tax for 1 Carlton Gardens is paid for personally by its occupant, in line with long-standing government policy.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on social media influencers since July 2024.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
I refer the honourable Member to the reply I gave on 6 November 2025 to PQ 86469.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill on (a) the (i) processing and (ii) public interest considerations of Freedom of Information Act requests and (b) how Ministers reply to written Parliamentary Questions.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The provisions in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill are not intended to have any impact on the processing or public interest considerations of Freedom of Information Act requests. The Bill does not alter the existing law or guidance about how public authorities are required to respond to freedom of information requests or the expectations on ministers in replying to written Parliamentary Questions.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff by headcount are employed by HM Prison and Probation Service to work on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI); at what grades they are employed; and how many of these are standalone EDI roles.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Our workforce data does not identify what proportion of each employee’s role involves working on equality, diversity and inclusion. It is therefore not possible to provide the requested information without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the publication entitled Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, which suppliers were used to provide the Black History Month events.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The suppliers for the Ministry of Justice Black History Month events listed in the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, were:
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 21059 on Ministry of Justice: Video Recordings, whether disciplinary action is being undertaken for that video.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Ministry of Justice takes all matters related to breaches in propriety and ethics policies very seriously, and in this instance, usual processes for checking the accuracy and appropriateness of social media posts were not followed properly. While we cannot comment on specific internal disciplinary actions, all staff involved have been spoken to and reminded of their responsibility to uphold the Civil Service Code.
In addition to our usual mandatory training on the Civil Service Code and propriety and ethics, the Government Communications Service Skills and Standards team will deliver refresher training to the Ministry of Justice Communications Directorate, and all new staff joining the team will be required to complete the training within the first two weeks of employment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 21059 on Ministry of Justice: Video Recordings, if she will publish the mandatory refresher training for the Communications Directorate.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The training materials are owned by the central Government Communications Service (GCS) Skills and Standards team and are available on the GCS website for communication professionals across government. The team in the GCS will be delivering propriety and ethics training for Ministry of Justice Communications staff in a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting using these materials.